TREE-SPARROW. 69 



PASSER MONTANUS. 

 TREE-SPARROW. 



(PLATE 13.) 



Pa&ser montanus, Briss. Orn. iii. p. 79 (1760); et auctorum plurimorum 

 (Gmelin), (Scopoli), (Latham), (Temminck), Degland $ Gerbe, (Nautnann), 

 Salvadori, Neivton, Dresser, &c. 



Passer campestris, Briss. Orn. iii. p. 82 (1760). 



Pyrrhula pyrrhula liamburgensis, Briss. Orn. iii. p. 314 (1760). 



Fringilla montana, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 324 (1766). 



Loxia hamburgia, Gmel Syst. Nat. i. p. 854 (1788). 



Fringilla campestris (Briss.), Schrank, Fauna Boica, i. p. 181 (1798-1803). 



Pyrgita montana (Briss.), Cuv. JRegne An. i. p. 385 (1817). 



Passer montanina, Pall. Zoogr. Rosso- Asiat. ii. p. 30 (1826). 



Pyrgita campestris (Briss.), Brehm, Vog. Deutschl. p. 267 (1831). 



Passer arboreus, Blyth, Renn. Field Nat. i. p. 467 (1833). 



The Tree- Sparrow is a much rarer bird than the House-Sparrow, and 

 its distribution is more local. Even in those districts where it is the most 

 common it appears to keep to certain localities. It is commonest during 

 the breeding-season in the central and eastern counties of England, but is 

 found as far north as Northumberland. It appears not to have been found 

 breeding in Wales ; but in Scotland, according to Mr. Gray, it is com- 

 moner than is generally supposed. He states that its chief stronghold is 

 in East Lothian. Its breeding-places in Scotland, according to Professor 

 Newton, are in Berwick, Hacldington, possibly Clackmannan, Aberdeen, 

 Perth, Elgin, and Sutherland. In the west of Scotland it is very rare ; 

 mid Mr. Gray states that it cannot with certainty be included in the list 

 of regular migrants. In Ireland this species was unknown until Mr. H. 

 JJlake-Knox recorded, in the ' Zoologist' (1870, p. 2018), the fact that it 

 had been obtained in co. Dublin at Dalkey and Baldoyle, where it is 

 believed to be a resident, but scarce. It does not appear to have ever 

 been obtained in the Orkneys or Shetland. A few pairs visited the Faroes 

 about the year 1869, where, according to Capt. Feilden, they have multi- 

 plied so quickly as to become a pest. 



The Tree-Sparrow is common, though somewhat local, throughout the 

 Palsearctic Region from the Atlantic to the Pacific up to and, in Europe, 

 slightly beyond the Arctic circle. It appears to be very rare in North 

 Africa, and to be absent altogether from Greece, Asia Minor, Pales- 

 tine, Central and Southern Persia, Baluchistan, and India south of the 

 Himalayas ; it is, however, abundant in Turkestan, Afghanistan, and the 

 Himalayas, and is found in suitable localities throughout the rest of Eastern 

 Asia, including Japan, Formosa, Hainan, and Java. The Tree- Sparrow 



